If you could come up with an idea which would give councils more freedom, residents more accountability and save taxpayers £1.2 billion, most people would call that a no-brainer. 

That was the thinking that lay behind our abolition of the Audit Commission earlier this year.  It was a straightforward decision, since some of the work that it did could be carried out more cheaply and just as effectively by private firms, and most of the work that it did was unnecessary and out of step with our drive to free councils from the straightjacket of red tape and regulation. 

Any organisation needs effective audit arrangements to keep a check on the accounts and make sure that business is being conducted in line with the rules.  It's essential for their integrity and credibility.

Councils are exactly the same.  But who says that's got to be organised by central government – with all the costs and overheads and bureaucracy that involves?  If companies and charities alike can appoint their own auditors, then why should councils be any different?

In fact, what happened to the Audit Commission is a classic example of what happens when central government starts meddling in things which are better be managed locally. 

Instead of just auditing accounts: it was regulating, micromanaging, and inspecting, forcing councils to spend time ticking boxes and filling in forms rather than getting on with the business of local government. 

Councils like my own were given a black mark for offering the weekly bin collections residents wanted because the bureaucrats didn't like them.  In short, the Audit Commission had become the eyes and ears of central government within councils.  

Worse, it failed in it's core duties of conducing effective audit.  Corby council was praised for its financial controls, ignoring the massive overspend on the Corby Cube.

It failed to tackle the dysfunction in Doncaster.  And while slating councils for getting caught up in the Icelandic banking scandal, they had themselves put £10 million into bad Icelandic investments. 

But worse still, it lost it's way, and presided over an internal culture of waste and excess that has no place in any part of the public sector, least of all a body which should have been setting the standards for others to follow. 

Thousands of pounds was blown on corporate credit cards for jollys.  It even hired lobbyists to try and prevent the government abolishing the comprehensive area assessments. 

So the Audit Commission was not just a failure: it was an expensive failure.  That is why we took the principled decision to abolish it: as part of a series of measures designed to promote greater transparency for taxpayers and greater freedom for councils. 

We've ended the comprehensive area assessments, saving councils around £25 million and enabling them to focus on delivering services not ticking boxes.